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Happy 2015 everyone! It is I, Severus, and today I wanted to lay down a list of resolutions for myself for the new year. I know, it’s kind of cliche to do, but if it keeps me focused for the year then I am all for it. So, with that in mind, lets dive in!

1. Be more consistent with the blog. We started this blog last year and had a good time with it. I burned out around August and have had real trouble getting motivated to write again. I have plenty of crap to talk about now, just no motivation. This year I am making a serious effort to stay on top of this blog.

2. Complete a 2000 point force of Tau. This one is a bit odd. I have 2000 points of painted Tau, just not in a cohesive force that I want to play on the table. I want to iron out a list that I like and paint that list to completion. I managed to turn out 2000 points of Iron Hands last year without much trouble, so I think this is a do-able goal.

3. No new armies. I have plenty to work on. I have more orks than I can shake a stick at. I have the Iron Hands force that I can expand on. I have plenty of tau to work on. I have an ever growing legion of undead for fantasy. My hobby plate is full, so no adding new armies. 2015 is going to be about making the armies I have better on the table top (through some new additions) and painting models I already have.

4. Find a way to run orks that I enjoy. I mean this in a competitive sense. There are plenty of opportunities for me to bring out the boys when my opponent wants to run softer/fluffier lists. When my opponents want to run harder lists, I really can’t get a good game in with the orks. I have seen lists out there centered around a green tide. Honestly, that doesn’t seem like that much fun to me. I have played green tides before and it can be a tedious affair. So I want to find that list that is fun for me to play and can hang in there with some tougher lists.

5. Go to a large tournament/convention. I want to get out there and meet a large section of the community. Shorereaper and I looked into going to Adepticon, but it was not feasible this year. We are in the Baltimore area, so we may try to get to the NOVA open. I don’t think I will actually play in any large competitive tournament. I just want to go and meet guys, maybe get some casual gaming in, maybe a hobby class.

6. Continue to improve my painting skills. Last year I started working on better line-highlighting with the Iron Hands. I am not quite sure what area of my painting I will focus on. There are lots of things thrown around like blending which I have no idea how to do. Maybe something like that.

I think that is a decent set of goals to stick to. I could list a few more,but I want to keep the list attainable. What are you guys working on for the new year? The Hobby Progress Challenge put on by the Independent Characters is an always popular goal. I have thought about entering, but my hobby mojo tends to come and go.

Up next, I am thinking of doing a unit review on the two experimental riptides from forgeworld. I already have the R’Varna (it is up next for the painting block) and the Y’Varha is on its way now. Until next time, this is Severus saying have a good one and take it easy.

Howdy everyone. Guess the ork broke the news to you all that I was on my way back. Well, here I am. There is no fancy excuse. I was being super lazy (see above related picture). Good news is that I have been active hobby wise and have plenty to talk about.

Kaptain Klaw already brought you guys up to speed on what has been happening in the GW world. I can fill you in on what is happening in our little local group. I finished up my original 2000 point Iron Hands lists. Completely painted to a standard I am happy with. I will try to setup the army for some photos one of these days. They have been my primary army over the last few months in terms of gaming. I am hoping to transition to Tau soon.

I briefly considered re-basing my Iron Hands when the 32mm bases came out. I got to say, I really like the way marines look on 32mm bases. I was a little concerned about having to pop all my marines of there 25mm (some have finecast legs, the other I used plastic glue which can be a bear to break neatly). Then the words of wisdom prevailed. I would need new foam for 32mm based miniatures. My current kr foam fits my 25mm bases very snug. Since I hate buying foam and cases (even if they are a good product), I decided to hold off on re-basing the Iron Hands.

Our gaming group has been really into fantasy. Mainly due to all the new end times content. Guys have been dusting off old armies, adding new units, and expanding armies with the new end times army units. I learned a lot. Mainly that I love Manfred’s new rules. He was a blast to play with, I may have to pick up that model eventually (I borrowed him the first time). I was also gifted a box of Morghast Harbingers, which I have assembled and painted. Going to test them out this weekend, so expect a little report.

We have even held a few small tournaments (put on by Critical Hit Games). They are trying a new format that has been working well. It is sort of a league. Participants sign up and pairings are announced. The games can be played anytime (as in through out the week or weekend) but must be played in the store. It is a single elimination style. Once the first round is complete, pairings for the next round are announced and it repeats. A 10 person tournament took about 3 weeks. A long time, but we ended up with a much higher turn out than when we hosted a single day 3 round tournament.

Personally, I would like to see the tournament format changed to a double elimination bracket. It is possible to do, just takes a little bit more work to come up with the pairings. That way you are less likely to get booted out of the tournament from some really bad luck or a poor match up. Regardless though, they have been fun matches to watch and play in. We even started a 40k one this last week.

We have had a few new faces in the 40k crowd. Unfortunately, none of them have become regular players thus far. There are about 6 of us there making up the core group. Don’t get this wrong, I love my core gaming group. I just really want to see more guys around playing. The more variety, the better. We are happy to play with new players or veterans. If you are reading this and are in the Baltimore area, check us out some saturday.

That about wraps up what has been going on with me. I have a few ideas for articles in the works (new year’s hobby resolutions, army on display for the iron hands, maybe a forgeworld unit review). Until then gentleman, this is Severus saying have a good one and take it easy.

Welcome back readers, It’s Severus here. Time to bring you lads up to speed on what I have been doing, as well as few of the other legionnaires.

I have been in a hobby zone lately. Lots of little projects getting wrapped up. Since the nagash book dropped, my fantasy fire has been rekindled. I had a lot of models that were in the middle stages of painting. Like 20 skeletons, 10 ghouls, 3 crypt horrors. They are all back on the painting table. I also started and finished my Krell model. I love him. He looks sweet, has an awesome story, and recently got a little bit of new rules. He is not the best on the table top, but come on. Who can say “No” to that face?

Now, being the magnet fiend that I am, it was only a matter of time before I started magnetizing my miniatures to the movement trays. I picked up some Gale Force Nine rubberized steel and went to town. I am about 1/3 of the way through my painted models and am running low on magnets. The trays look and work well. I did about 7 trays with the one pack of rubberized steel.

I also acquired a metaphorical boat load of second hand vampire count models. Long story short, a friend of the group was getting rid of a fairly large army he had bought but never really painted or used. The lord primarch, who is starting an undead legion himself, and I decided to split the lot. They were for the most part all assembled (except that damn crystallizing GW plastic glue meant that most of them now fell apart). The big center piece for the lot for me was 15 blood knights. They were in various stages of painting. I decided to strip them and start from scratch. Suffice it to say, my building and repair time will be full for a long time.

Now, outside of hobby land, there have been a number of games played. The lord primarch and I had a fantasy game. He used Critical Hit’s store army, Ogres. I was testing out a krell lead undead legion list. They game went decidedly in my favor. Mainly due to some horrendous luck on the primarch’s part. Like his right flank collapsing when I single spirit host charged 4 maneater’s, beat them in combat, who fled, and were ran down. Shit happens like that in fantasy. It was a discouraging game for the primarch, I hope this doesn’t hurt his new found fantasy enthusiasm.

Over the weekend we went to a new local store, Core World’s Games, ran by one of our very own legionnaires. Now, I will be upfront with you readers, Josh is a friend and I am sure I am biased when it comes to reviewing his store. That being said, I like his store. The location is not that far off the main road for me, so it is a fairly easy drive. The store has plenty of space. Like 5 or 6 gaming tables with plenty of space for gaming. Terrain is a little light right now, but I know he is working on that. If I could give him one critique, his section of models is not the greatest right now. I understand that takes capital to build a large inventory, so that will be something that comes with time. I encourage all of you reading to go check it out.

Now, while at the new store, I got more gaming in. A fantasy battle against the chaos worshiper, Greg. His warriors took on the undead legion in a 2500 game. It was a rough go. He crushed my center fairly early on with his chosen and chaos warriors. My new vargheists ran around like fools due to failing a frenzy check on turn one and died in short order. Fortunately, the loss of my general in the center no longer sets off a crumble. So I was able to hold on and take down a few of his units with my crypt ghouls and terrorgheist. In the end, I was able to pull it back and earn a draw.

After that, Shorereaper and I decided to have a go with some 40k. He brought his nids with the new big bug, the Dimachaeron. I brought my iron hands with the new imperial knight, Justice. We decided to do an altar of war mission from the iron hands supplement. Essentially it was kill points with a modified version of slay the warlord for the iron hands. Basically, I could earn five victory points if my chapter master could take down his swarm lord in a challenge. So that is what we set out to do. I bet big on that combat, and in the end lost. Stupid big bug. Justice managed to mop up a lot of the field for me along with my land raider crusader. In the end it was 12-13, the Iron Hands had lost.

That’s about it for me readers. Outside of the miniature land, I have been doing some netrunner and Destiny still. Next weekend is probably going to be wargaming-free. So probably not going to be much to report. Maybe some hobbying. Until then, this is Severus saying have a good one and take it easy.

Howdy everyone, Severus here again. I (and my massive ego, yes I am comparing myself to Gandulf the White) have returned. It was nice to take a week away from the hobby and the blog. Like a crack addict though, I was not able to stay away for long. So what did I miss?

Apparently the Space Wolves are out in full force now. Looks like a trickle release so far, although they did drop the book week 2. So, that’s awesome. In terms of the book, I have yet to lay my hands on one. No massive rumblings on the net so far in terms of internal army issues. Although, I have seen some sneaky gits talking about using a drop pod (which can be purchased as a fast attack slot) to bring various allied units down into battle.

I really want to see the space wolves on the table. I personally don’t like them, but nothing gives me more pleasure than killing them. Unfortunately, there is not an active space wolf player in our local group. So unless one of the son’s of fenris steps out of the den they are hiding in, I doubt we will get much exposure to them. In other words, don’t expect an in depth review of the codex.

I actually got a few games in since I last reported in. Before I left, I got a game in against the Lord Primarch with his orks versus my clan sorrgol Iron Hands. Generally speaking I tend to run my Iron hands in a lot of vehicles. I try to punch forward into my enemy’s lines then dump all the marines out and fight my way out. Well, in this case I did not drive far enough forward. In the end I ended up with 3 combat squads way to far back and that let the orks sneak out a win against me.

I got another game in Saturday with my Iron Hands against the much loathed Tau Empire. It ended up being a crusade game with dawn of war deployment. My opponent did not have the hardest tau list ever. Wall of fire warriors, 4 broadsides, a riptide, a hammerhead, Aun’Shi, Cadre Fireblade, a razorshark fighter, some marker drones, and about 40 kroot. Regardless, it made for a decent firebase with the kroot on both flanks waiting to jump on juice targets of opportunity.

I was able to weather the fire power pretty well in my transports. This time I got out at the right spot (aka 6 inches from the tau lines) and was able to break his lines quite well. It turned into a very one sided affair by the end, a 10-4 victory for the Iron Hands. The Iron Hands really showed there resilience that game. Tanks were hard to take down and the feel no pain saves came in handy.

I guess to wrap this up, I wanted to give a report on our little community at Critical Hit. Our 40k community continues to grow slowly. We see a few new guys trickle in each month, I hope you guys keep coming back. We are prepping for a little in store tournament at the end of the month, so start trying out some 1750 point lists. In terms of fantasy, I have talked to a lot of guys lately about getting together. Just waiting on word from a club that plays in Dropzone Games. We should have a game day setup soon.

That about does it for me. Hope you guys enjoy the articles Shorereaper and Augustus brought you while I was out. Until next time, this is Severus saying have a good one and take it easy.

Hello again readers, once again it’s your absentee blog contributor Ralshenik! Today unfortunately my writing is taking a more somber tone as I have made the extremely difficult decision to leave the hobby I have loved so much for the last several years. This choice comes at a time in my life where I am looking to explore new personal ventures and honestly just don’t have the free time available to wargame like I want to.

As I said, this is not an easy choice, for the last 5-6 years I have thoroughly enjoyed every aspect of this hobby while making friends and memories that will last a lifetime. I was exceptionally blessed with one of the most friendly and welcoming group of gamers any nerd could ask for.

Though my writing experience for this blog was short-lived, it was an absolute blast to be able to share my thoughts with you guys and engage fellow gamers in conversation all throughout the world. Severus and Co. are a great bunch of guys, I wish them and this blog nothing but happiness and prosperity.

There won’t be any gnashing of teeth or angry lamentations in this article; i’m not going to sit here and tell you the reason i’m leaving is cause the game of 40k has jumped the shark or GW is just a bunch of money hungry English devils. I’m not going to champion some other system and explain to you why it is so much better than 40k and why you should make the choice to leave like me. None of that is true, this is simply a personal choice made due to various circumstances in my life currently.

Consider this a goodbye letter to a game that has thoroughly entertained me over the last 6 years, as I walk out the proverbial door I do it with my head high and a bright optimism about the future.

Perhaps the cold lure of the grim dark will pull me back someday? Perhaps I (like many 40k players before me) am only experiencing the first of many retirements and un-retirements? I would never bet against that.

For at least the foreseeable future however, I say goodbye Warhammer 40,000, thanks for the friends and fun times. I wish all the readers of this blog the best in their hobby times, I hope the game is as good to you as it was to me.

Farewell Twenty First Legion and the 41st Millennium! Till the day we meet again…..

Howdy everyone, Severus again. I am here today to continue the ork review. Today we are covering troops and trukks. Yes I know trukks are fast attack, but that section is clogged and troops are light, so they are going here.

Anyway, up first is the good old fashioned ork boy. Statline and points for the basic slugga choppa boy has stayed the same. Shootas are a 1 point upgrade. They now come with stikkbombs for free! Generally speaking besides the point bump for shoota boyz, these guys have stayed the same. They did open it up to having more than one unit of ‘ard boyz, so that could become a thing.

Gretchin are up next. Once again points and stats stayed the same. Which is’t bad. They are a super cheap troop choice. So if you are trying to meet your troop min, you can take these. Or if you are running a combined arms detachment (CAD), they come with objective secured. Now you have a super cheap unit that you can hide until late game while the boyz take the fight to the enemy. Personally, I like them as a meat shield for my big mek with a shokk attack gun.

Trukks are now cheaper by 5 points if memory serves me. The big change comes in the form of ramshakle. No longer do we get our own fun cool chart, just the chance to turn a pen to a glance on a 6. These guys were easy to kill before, now they are easier. But they are SO cheap you can take tons of them. They are a fast attack choice, not sure why you would take an empty one as a fast attack though. You can now take them as a dedicated transport for just about any unit in them, so you can really take a ton of these in a list.

Now, overall I would say the boyz got better for two reasons. ‘Ere we go and boarding planks on trukks. Combine those with some basic slugga choppa boys, toss a nob in with a power klaw, and you have a 150ish point unit that is INCREDIBLY fast. On there own they move 6, get out 6, and can charge 2d6+2 (to a max of 12). Throw a waagh in there and now you could add a d6 run to that, pushing the assault range out to 30 inches. Yes, boys are fragile (which feels weird to say) and trukks are not a safe transport. But each unit like this can throw out a huge threat range. Bring multiples and hide them turn one then dive on foes turn 2.

I consider slugga choppa boyz in a trukk like suicide units right now. They are easy to kill, so I don’t expect them to live long. They can do a ton of hurt to something before they go. I am still trying to figure out what the sweet spot is in terms of number of trukk boyz. Today we are trying out three.

Now the biggest change to the troop section is that these two unit are your only options. No more nobz as troops, no more bikers as troops, and no more deff dreads as troops. So, better get used to taking boyz and gretching. I have seen list ideas floating around where you meet the min troop requirements then go get tons of the new toys. Those lists could be fun. I have also seen lists with tons of boyz. Follow your orky heart and have guys. In the mean time, I hear some ultramarines have a score to settle with Kaptain Klaw.

Howdy everyone, it’s Severus. I managed to wrestle control of the blog away from that stupid ork, Kaptain Klaw. So, now that I am back I wanted to give you guys something we have all been waiting for, an Ork Codex Review! I have had the codex since friday night. I have done plenty of reading and played a few games. This is my early impressions on the codex.

First off, the formatting has changed. Gone is the standard template from the 6th ed books. Previously there was a long list of units with fluff, art, there stat line, and any unit specific special rules (glory hogs for example on the tankbustas). Then in the back you would find the unit entry with points, wargear options, ect. Now they are all combined into one data sheet, very similar to what we have been seeing in the white dwarfs. This makes it convenient, now you don’t have to flip back and forth to see those unit specific special rules. I do miss the art though.

The fluff is good old orky fluff. A lot of stuff you have seen before. There are some new variations to it. I think volume wise, we end up with more fluff in this book than we did the last one. Hell, my beloved freebootas used to be a single paragraphs in the 4th ed book, now I get a whole page!

Now to the crunch of it, the rules. A lot has changed with the green skins. I will spare you the details of going through it unit by unit. Instead let me highlight the big changes. First up, we get our own force org chart! 3 HQ’s (1 required), 9 troops (3 required), 3 elites, 3 fast attacks, and 3 heavy supports. That extra HQ slot is nice since there are so many hq options now (painboys are now hq choices). Taking this chart allows you to re-roll your warlord trait on the ork table. It also has a bit of a wonky rule. If a unit made up of 10 or models rolls 10 or higher on it’s charge distance, they gain hammer or wrath. Really situational, but extra hits are better than none.

Now, for a true orky guy, this force org chart is great; it really captures the army feel. Here is the problem, you will not have objective secured. You need to use the combined arms detachment to get objective secured. In the end, if you want to be competitive, I would probably use the combined arms detachment.

Up next, the army wide special rule ‘ere we go. I love this rule. It allows you to re-roll one die on your charge distance. So it’s like sort of fleet. That one die can really save you bacon. There is second part to this rule though. When a warboss calls his waagh, units with ‘ere we go can run and then assault. This is huge. A well position ork player can reliably get off turn 2 charges.

Now, learn from my mistakes on this. Mega armor still gives you slow and purposeful (so you can’t run). Ghazghkull’s waaaagh allows those type of models to run. But a regular mega-armored warboss can’t. I forgot this and ended up having my warboss watch from the sidelines for a turn since I ended up needing a 10 inch charge since I couldn’t run. Fun side note though, multiple warbosses allow for multiple waaghs.Edit: Only your warlord can call the waaaagh, so that doesn’t work. Thanks to Boss Trav-Trav for catching that.

Now for that last army wide rule, the mob rule. Not going to sugar coat it, this one hurts a bit. Now, you take morale and pinning checks like normal (so, leadership 7 normally). If you fail, then you roll on the mob rule chart. On a 1, if you are in close combat you are consider to have passed the morale check; otherwise you fail. On a 2-3 if you have a character or independent character, you cause d6 strength 4 hits to the unit then pass the test; if you have no characters you fail. And on a 4-6, if have 10 or more models in the unit, you cause d6 strength 4 hits then pass; if you have less than 10 you fail the test. In review, you can damage your own boyz a lot just from morale and pinning checks.

The mob rule right now feels a little rough. Lets be honest though guys. Orks are not known for there courage under fire or leadership. I see this rule in two ways. First off, it is meant to be a draw back. ‘Ere we go and the waaagh rules are both better than the last codex, so it makes sense that the writers wanted to give a drwa back to balance out the buff we got. You don’t want your boyz taking leadership checks so play smart. The other way I see this rule is it starts to force you down a certain play style with your boyz. Bring lots of them with a nob and get into close combat as soon as possible. This fits the army theme so well! If you play the orks like that then theoretically, you would never run. You may lose some boys to a heavy handed nob, but who cares. We got plenty of boys.

Okay, down to the nitty gritty of it. In terms of individual units, there have been TONS of changes. I will probably save most of these for a group by group review as I get more experience with time (aka, HQ review, Troop review, ect). For now though, let me give you a few of my favorites.

Mad Dok Grotsnik! I loved this guy before, just ask Ralshenik and his daemons. Now he is even better! Gone is the rule that made us lose control of him. Now he gives the unit rampage instead. In review, he brings in a psedowarboss profile with a power klaw, gives the unit feel no pain, fearless (which is huge with the mob rule), and rampage. For 160pts. There are already deathstar’s floating about the net based around this guy. I am just going to throw him in with some regular old nobz in place of there pain boy. Good luck trying to tarpit that unit now. I would like to point out for the price conscious gamers, his model is cheaper than the new painboy.

Tankbustas, I always wanted and excuse to buy these guys. Now they don’t compete for slots against those darn lootas (who are heavy support now). They had a big change to there glory hog rule. Now if you kill a vehicle for first blood with tankbustas, you get 2 points instead of 1. Nice little buff, but also gives us control over them again. Bomb squigs got easier to use, they hit on a 2+ and no more accidentally hitting something else. Most importantly though, they gained two things. There tank busta bombs are now melta bombs. They also gained tank hunter. So what little hits you do get you can make count now. They can also bring a trukk, so no more wasted battlewagons. And they got 2 points cheaper. I think that about covers them.

Okay, long ramble aside, it time to wrap this thing up. My initial impressions are very good about the book. It is easier to get orks into combat now, where they have always belonged. For the most part everything got cheaper, so you can take more of them. Units that were not useful before got some tweaks to make them viable in my mind again. We gained tons of new options in existing units. We gained tons of new units. Yes, the mob rule hurts, but come on, we got to give the opponents some weakness to exploit. A kunnin ork player should be able to minimize the impact of the mob rule. Overall, I think the book is very good. I will hold off on a power ranking for now, expect to see that in the future.

In the mean time, I got to clean up all that damn graffiti that Kaptain Klaw left around here. Take care! Severus out.

Severus here gang, and I actually have painted stuff! I tend to be a very slow painter. Working here and there after work at night tends to be my routine. I am getting pump about getting my grubby hands on that new beautiful ork codex on friday. With that renew enthusiasm I finally finished my nob bikers!

I converted these guys out of second hand models about a year ago. They were of course not in the best of shape. They are missing a few guns, but I am not to concerned about that. The biggest work I did on the basic biker was to magnetize the arms and replace the boy sized torso with nob sized torso. I find that the magnetized arms make it really easy to track wounds and letting me change there loadout.

The biggest piece I worked on was the painboy biker. He is a kit bash for the most part. His quad bike is made out of an old buggy (yeah, they really are that small) I cobbled together a rear compartment where he would keep all his gubbins. Then I painted it white and dirtied it up, right ork style.

Painting wise I did the basic style for my boys. Everything on them is pretty much base coat and heavy was with nuln oil or agarax earthshade. I like my orks to look nice and dirty. The only thing that I did more than that on is the skin. I like my orks to be nice and bright, so I base coat in waaagh flesh, wash in biel-tan green, then dry brush in warboss green and then moot green.

The last fancy bit I tried out is the new technical paint blood for the blood god. Load it up on a brush and made some nice splatter affects on the painboy. I am not sure I am sold on that yet. I hate to say this, but I know what blood looks like and that ain’t it. So, the search continues for a good blood affect.

Now, wouldn’t it be a shame if I finished the biker and then no longer run in my army when the new book is out. Unlikely, I really like these boys. Up next, a forgeworld warboss on a bike! The nobz will be led by by Kaptain Klaw’s lieutenant, Warboss Waaaaaaaagh. (Imagine the dopplar effect as a ork drives by screaming waaaagh).

WAAAAAGH everyone, it’s Severus again. Now that I have the last three white dwarfs in hand as well as leaks from this Friday’s floating around the net, I feel like it’s time to sit down and take a look at the new model rules. Remember, these are just my first impressions, they could totally change (and probably will) once I get them on the table more.

First up the Gorkanaut. Probably my favorite rule set from this dual kit. His gun doesn’t look that reliable, averaging 7 shots means he will hit with 2. Eh. Correction, he fires 3d6, so average 10-11 shots, meaning 3-4 hits, so not so bad. He is also bringing along a few twin linked shootas, a skorcha, and 2 rokkits. I can see getting some use out of these options. Lets be honest though, you are not taking this guy because of his shooting. 4 attacks base with rampage, strength 10 ap 1. That is why you want him. He can have up to 8 attacks on the charge. At front armor 13 with 5 hull points, he should not be that easy to take down. I think you can offset his slow movement by giving him it will not die. Then he should theoretically make it to combat. Don’t forget, transport capacity of 6!

His cousin, the Morkanaut, I am a little less impressed with. He has a better gun, essential a plasma cannon. He loses the skorcha for a kustom mega blaster. So, sounds a little better shooting wise. He also can take a kustom force field that gives all ork models within 6 inches a 5+ invuln. So that is sweet. Stat wise, he is just as durable as his cousin. I think he would work well with a bunch of slow moving shooting units. Maybe a bunch of killa kans or deff dreads. It sure would look sweet. My biggest draw back about him is that is he can easily come in at over 300 points. That could die to a lucky melta or lascannon shot. The same could be said about the gorkanaut I guess.

Up next, my beloved flash gitz. I am going to try to put aside my love for the pirate theme and the models in general and look at them strictly from a rules sense. They got much cheaper than before. Fully upgraded, those guys could cost you about 40pts a piece before, now we are down to 22. To make it better, there guns are now strength 5 assualt 3. The d6 ap is still a thing, which I am okay with. They are sporting a nob profile still and have rules to give them bs 3 when standing still and re-roll one die on the charge distance. Sweet! My only complaint is that they are a 6+ armor. Before, I could splurge and give them a 4+ if I wanted. So, that sort of makes this unit a glass hammer. Treat them like shoota boys. Keep them in vehicles or in cover when you can, they won’t live long in the open.

Up next the newly expanded mek guns! I think these might be the sleeper hit so far. Super cheap at 18 points base for a kannon or lobba, and only a 5 point upgrade to Zapp guns. You can add up to 4 to the group, so an artillery unit of 5! With grots, so they are BS 3! The new guns look like they will be fun. The bubblechukka is a great fluffy gun, and a group of them could really put the hurting on a blob of infantry. I can see the kustum mega kannon also being useful. The smasha gun looks like it will be okay, unfortunately it is competing with the cheaper kannon and zap guns for that anti tank. Although ap 1 is great now. The new hotness though is in the lovely Traktor Kannon. Skyfire, strength 8 and ap3; an ork has never had a better option for taking down flying thingies. Throw in it’s special rule that adds a -3 modifier to grounding checks and adding an immobilized result to any glances or pens pushes this baby over the top.

Now onto the looted wagon. Images have been running around the net of Friday’s white dwarf with rules for it. Generally speaking, it stay the same profile wise. It’s don’t touch that now occurs in the shooting phase, which is okay i guess. It’s points though took a huge drop. It is 37 points base and 30 for a killkannon. A boomgun is no longer an option. I think the unit didn’t change much other than that. If you got good work out of it before, you still should.

Here is the problem I am seeing though. All these new ork kits and unit are all heavy support according to the symbols in the white dwarf. So that section of the codex is going to be pretty clogged if you keep deff dreads, killa kans, and battlewagons in there. So, some units that look good, like flash gitz and looted wagons, may get bumped just from lack of slots. Assuming you are sticking with your single combined arms attachment.

The other problem I am hearing about is that the looted wagon is a white dwarf exclusive unit. As in it will not be in the codex, so you can only get the rules in the white dwarf. I am okay with this. Hell, up until this new book, our dakka jets were white dwarf rules. Sisters where a white dwarf codex for the longest time. I have been picking up the ork white dwarfs just for the painting and articles, so I don’t see why this would be different.

Overall, I am really liking all the rules we are seeing so far. They look strong so far, but still have that nice touch of orky randomness. I can totally see this booking giving players tons of fun options. You can bet big with all the powerful units that have a chance to screw up (flash gitz, bubblechukka, looted wagon). You can also go with super reliable units that will get the job done (kustom mega kannons, traktor kannons, morkanaut?). I hope this theme carries over to the rest of the book. I am sure there will be some army wide special rules, and I have a feeling it will be the re-roll one die for the charge distance thing the flash gitz have. Time will tell though, only 11 days until I should have a new shiny codex in my orky paws!

The time has come to introduce the fourth and final act of our Narrative Event: Battle for Tarandros! For those of you that may not know, our gaming group began an extensive Narrative Campaign set in the far-flung Sorathian system, where various factions from the Warhammer 40k Universe battle for supremacy!

After scouring the vast ruins of what was once the planet’s capital, Captain Titus finally reached the installation that his Chapter’s Librarius had found referenced in their ancient texts. Precious gene-seed dating from the darkest days of the Horus Heresy would be found within. Despite the relentless passage of time, Eldrich stasis fields should have preserved the gene-seed throughout the millennia. But the Ultramarine leader knew that he was not alone. Ever since he and his brothers had entered the labyrinthine expanse, his super-human senses had detected a presence lurking in the shadows.

Having smashed all opposition in its path, the Alpha Legion and its demonic allies were hot on the Ultramarines’ heels. No doubt it was their foul tread that Titus had felt. In an attempt to halt the advance of Chaos, the Eldar of Craftworlds Ulthwé and Windu had sought to stop the Alpha Legion in its tracks. Instead, they were met by the implacable Death Guard. Dozens of Guardians and Dire Avengers of Windu sold their lives in an attempt to break through the servants of Nurgle’s rotting ranks.

Farseer Aramel boldly led a squad of Storm Guardians into the heart of the battlefield, in an effort to claim a strategic objective. But the advancing Eldar were beset by Plaguemarines. Though he slew their Champion, Aramel and his Guardians were mired in mortal combat with a foe that refused to yield. As the battle raged, the Death Guard’s leader teleported behind the Eldar lines with his retinue of terminator armored bodyguard. In spite of their powerful chaos-forged armor, they were all quickly annihilated by the combined fury of Vibro-cannons and scatter-lasers. Yet for all their gains, the Farseers of Ulthwé knew that the moment had passed. They could no longer reach the insidious Alpha Legion strike team and prevent them from reaching their quarry. Being so foiled, the Eldar were forced to withdraw back into the webway. The Ultramarines would have to face this foe alone.

Meanwhile, the battered remnants of the Imperium’s spearhead abandoned their outer defenses and regrouped to form a tight cordon surrounding the vast installation where Titus and his Marines would complete their quest. In their haste to muster a cogent defense, none had noticed the Alpha Legion strike force as it quietly slipped through their ranks. So great had their losses been, that none amongst the Imperium’s leaders held any hope of reclaiming this world for the glory of their Emperor. Their only goal now was to survive until Captain Titus’s mission was complete.

Despite the withdrawal of Imperium troops, the orks had remained curiously restrained. In awe of his supreme Orkiness, no member of Kap’n Klaw’s Space Waaagh dared question his orders to halt their pursuit of the enemy after their puny counter-attack had been smashed. While the Imperium consolidated their strength, Klaw gathered his vast horde for a grand final assault, the likes of which had never been seen upon the hot sands of Tarandros!